Where Did Bollywood's Children's Films Go?

Bollywood has largely stopped making films for children, a sharp drop from the late 1990s and early 2010s when major stars and filmmakers regularly experimented with animation, fantasy, and coming-of-age stories.

What Changed

Filmmaker Kaushal Oza faced a long struggle to find a backer for his upcoming movie Little Thomas, which stars an 8-year-old child and follows his attempt to get his parents to give him a sibling. Financiers today are risk-averse and focus heavily on box-office surety, making it hard to fund low-budget family projects without established stars. Producer Ranjan Singh notes that while global hits prove the market is strong, Indian theaters mostly screen Hollywood kids' films because domestic cinema has lumped children together with adult audiences.

Industry Factors

Filmmaker Sonam Nair points out that young viewers now prefer mainstream adult blockbusters like Pushpa, while writer Jaideep Sahni notes that children often watch age-inappropriate TV shows and movies like Singham. Meanwhile, director Anurag Kashyap points to the loss of institutional support after the Children's Film Society, India, was merged into the National Film Development Corporation in 2022. In the past, major stars like Aamir Khan in Taare Zameen Par, Amitabh Bachchan and Shah Rukh Khan in Bhoothnath, and Hrithik Roshan in Koi Mil Gaya and Krrish gave star power to this genre, but today's producers demand massive names even for family comedies.

Context

Financial backers in the Indian film industry currently prefer projects with high opening-weekend guarantees and star power over slow-building family releases. Independent filmmakers continue to look for low-budget ways to tell fresh stories despite these heavy distribution and funding hurdles.